I'll be home for Christmas
by Fruitbird15
Summary: In the wake of the events of Kaos rising, Talwyn prepares for another Christmas without her father. But Christmas wishes sometimes come true...


This is a little something I wrote as a Christmas present to my readers. I'm sorry to say that this will not make sense if you haven't read my fiction, Kaos rising, so if you haven't seen it, you may have some catching up to do. Sorry...

Merry Christmas, everybody!

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><p>Apogee Space Station.<p>

Christmas Eve.

Overhead lights glittered off decorations, giving the stations interior a rainbow hue. Christmas carols played softly on the radio, and in the control rooms fire place, a blazing fire crackled merrily. Talwyn placed the last bauble on the tree, sighing with contentment. She loved Christmas, loved it's warmth, it's joy, the peaceful silence of-

CRASH!

"Watch what you're doin' ya durn old fool!"

"Me? I ain't the one leavin' stuff everywhere!"

This time, the sigh was of annoyance as she put the box of decorations down and stepped out into the corridor.

"What's going on here?"

On the floor, Cronk and Zephyr were jumbled in a heap, covered in Christmas lights. A step ladder had fallen over besides them. Zephyr looked up guiltily.

"Sorry, Miss Talwyn. We were just trying to put up the Christmas lights. And we would have if _someone _hadn't left the step ladder where people could trip over it!"

"Aw, shut up, ya old coot." Cronk grumbled.

Smiling ruefully, Talwyn knelt and helped untangle the two old warbots. They got to their feet and brushed themselves off, looking embarrassed. She handed the lights back to them.

"Here. Now try and put them up _without _arguing, OK?"

They shuffled their feet, mumbling.

"Sorry? Didn't catch that."

"Yes, Miss Talwyn." they chorused.

"Thank you."

_They do this every year! _she thought, stepping back into the control room. She began sifting through the box of decorations. She was sure there was a wreath in here somewhere...

Suddenly, she froze. Under the layer of thread bare tinsel and broken decorations at the bottom of the box, her questing hand had found something. Something familiar. Slowly, she pulled it out. In her hand, a clay snowflake shone, its coating of silver glitter catching the light of the decorations and flashing rainbow. An old pain flared, one that had never gone away. Her and her father had made the decoration one Christmas, when she was four, Max Apogee laughing uproariously as she had flung glitter around in her youthful exuberance. It had taken weeks to clean up. She sat down in her chair, Christmas spirit gone. Every year. she tried to put those memories away, and every year they returned, sharp and sparkling, to stab her in the heart. And it was Christmas time that she felt his loss keenest.

Her father had loved Christmas. No matter what adventures he was on, he had always returned to spend Christmas with her, until one day, when he hadn't...

Perhaps if she knew for sure that he was dead, it wouldn't hurt so much. Perhaps she could come to terms with his absence. But he had simply...vanished. He could be alive out there, somewhere. Was he safe? Was he OK? She closed her eyes against the tears.

Did he miss her?

An alarm brought her back to her senses. Someone was trying to enter the station. Talwyns thoughts whirred. Who could it be? Ratchet? She shook her head. After the Lombaxes had returned two months ago, he had spent most of his time on Fastoon, and was looking forward to his first Christmas with his bondmate, Jasmine. (A flash of jealousy there. There had never really been anything between them, but some of her feelings for him had been slightly more than platonic. Too late now...) So not Ratchet, then. But who? Nefarious? He hadn't been seen in months. The Smuggler? No, he tended to keep himself to himself. And it certainly wasn't Qwark. A stranger, then.

All these thoughts flashed past in a second, and she reached for her blaster. As she ran out of the control room, she could hear Cronk and Zephyr arguing again in the distance.

"I'm tellin' ya, it's upside down!"

"Aw, whadda you know about it?"

It looked like she'd have to do this alone. She swiftly reached the station doors, priming her blaster. Slowly, she reached for the button that would open the door, body tense, blaster raised. The door slid open.

"OK, buster, reach for the-"

The blaster slipped from suddenly nerveless fingers and clattered on the floor. Talwyn stared, heart hammering in her chest. She opened her mouth, but no sound came out. She tried again.

"...Dad?"

Max Apogee smiled.

"Hey, Tal. I barely recognised you! You've grown so much!"

Talwyn staggered, legs giving way beneath her. Max caught her before she fell, strong arms helping her upright.

"Easy there, Tal. I know it's a big shock for you. It's been too long since I last saw you, criminally long."

She wanted to say how much she missed him. She wanted to say how much she loved him. But instead, what came out was:

"Where _were _you?"

"It's a long story. I'll tell you when we're inside."

She led him to the control room on shaky legs. hardly daring to believe it. It was a dream. It was a hallucination. It had to be. Her head told her that. But her heart told her it was true.

As they entered the control room, he noted the decorations and smiled.

"I almost forgot it was Christmas eve. Funny how you lose track of time, isn't it? The place looks real nice, Tal."

She nodded vaguely, slumping into a chair. Max sat down next to her.

"Are you OK? You're very pale."

"I waited so long..." she said, almost in a whisper. "I waited all these years...I looked for you...I looked everywhere...Dad, where were you?"

"I'm so sorry, Tal. I would have come to you sooner, I swear."

"Why didn't you?"

Max leaned back and began his story.

"I had heard rumours on the grapevine of Tachyon sniffing around Jasindu. I'd relocated the Dimensionator there, I couldn't risk him finding it. I had intended to investigate, to find out if my suspisions were correct.

Fate had other plans.

"Tachyon was hounding a Lombax, chasing her to her death. She was hurt, and couldn't run fast. I had to help her, but there was no way out. Save one. We managed to get some of the Kerchu to cover our backs long enough to reach the Dimensionator. I told it to take us somewhere safe, but just as we went to go through the portal, I felt something hit my head. Then there was just darkness. I came to a few days later, in one of the safest places in the Universe. Have you heard of the Zenithi?"

Talwyn nodded. The gentle race of reptile birds had revealed themselves at the same time as the Lombaxes had returned. She had met a couple, in fact. They were polite, if a little bit shy.

"Yes, why?"

"The planet I wound up on was Elysium, the Zenithi's home world. At the time, they were still hidden, but they're a soft hearted race. They let me stay. Just as well, really. The blow to my head did more damage than expected. I wound up with total amnesia. I didn't have the faintest clue who I was. For years, they called me John Doe. I couldn't remember my name..."

He bowed his head and covered his eyes.

"You have no idea how painful it was, Tal. Knowing there was someone out there waiting for me, but not being able to remember who. Can you imagine how it feels, in the dark of the night, to look back and see nothing? No warm memories to return to before sleep, no names, no faces, no nothing. Just blackness, and cruel flashes of recollection, that disappeared as soon as I tried to focus. It was hell, pure torture. There was only one bright spot in my life. The Lombax I saved. Angela. She was nearly killed as she went through the portal, took a bullet through the stomach and nearly died. The Zenithi managed to get her to pull through, but it was a close thing. She recovered, though, and decided that she owed me for saving her life. She became my caretaker. She reminded me of things I'd forgotten. My short term memory wasn't up to scratch. She found me when I was lost. She made sure I ate when I forgot to. I shudder to think what would have happened to me without her. So for a while, that was my life. Then, one day..." He was silent for a time. Then:

"You know the one they called Kaos? The one who orchestrated all those attacks before Ratchet stopped her?" Talwyn nodded. "She found Elysium... It was pandemonium. Hundreds died. I fought to defend them, and in the fight, I took a bad knock to the head. When I came too...I remembered. It all came flooding back! The attack was repulsed, and the Zenithi offered to let me go home. I decided to wait until Kaos was stopped, but when she was, I realised...I couldn't remember where the station was! Not everything came back." He looked utterly miserable. "Some memories are gone forever. It took me this long to find you." He smiled. "But now I'm home, and I promise you, Tal, I will _never _abandon you again. I'm so sorry for everything I've put you through. Can...can you forgive me?" He reached over and took her hand, eyes pleading.

Talwyn was silent, then she smiled, tears tracking lines down her cheeks.

"Dad...what is there to forgive? You're home, that's all that matters!"

Max smiled back.

"Sweet eye of a Zoni, are my eyes deceiving me? Max, you old son-of-a-gun! You're alive!"

Max jumped to his feet.

"Cronk! Zephyr! Are you two rust buckets still going? Good to see you two!"

Cronk hauled Max up in a tight embrace.

"Where have you been. Max? We looked everywhere for you!"

Max wriggled out of his grip.

"Easy there, you nearly broke a rib! It's a long story, and I'll tell you two later. Right now I want to spend some quality time with you guys. I've missed you all." He hugged Talwyn.

"Merry Christmas, Talwyn."

"Merry Christmas...Dad."


End file.
